SEA LILIES, STARFISHES, ETC. — CLARK. 10 1 



longitudinally ; neck smooth, shining, porcelain-like ; as the 

 spine gets older, the smooth, shining neck comes to occupy- 

 more and more of the spine, so that in old spines only the 

 distal half or two-thirds shows the crowded granules clearly ; 

 actinal primaries, smooth, flattened, not at all serrulate, with 

 very broad collars ; secondaries, narrow, flat and blunt. 

 Pedicellariae much as in Cidaris affinis, Phil. ; large globi- 

 ferous pedicellarise very infrequent, wanting in some speci- 

 mens ; tridentate pedicellarise rather numerous ; small globi- 

 ferous somewhat less so. General colour of test yellowish- 

 brown or dull reddish ; secondary spines whitish or yellowish, 

 the larger ones about the primaries with a longitudinal stripe 

 on the outer side, of brownish, greenish or yellowish tint ; 

 this stripe may be very faint and is often wanting, but is 

 probably characteristic of the living animal ; secondaries often 

 tipped with yellowish or reddish ; primary spines pure white 

 (more or less soiled and encrusted distally) with yellow-brown 

 collar ; in the smallest specimen many of the primaries are 

 encircled by two narrow, widely separated, rather faint rings 

 of dull rose-red. The smallest specimen is 25 mm. in diameter, 

 the largest 45 mm. ; the latter is 33 mm. high. Five speci- 

 mens. 



At first glance these specimens look very much hke Cidaris 

 cidaris of Europe or C. abyssicola of Florida, but on more 

 careful examination the relationship to C. afflnis becomes 

 more evident. I am no longer willing to separate affinis from 

 cidaris generically, for in large series of specimens it is difficult 

 to separate them even specifically. I have therefore aban- 

 doned the genus Tretocidaris in the sense in which I formerly 

 used it, and I am the more ready to do this because I think 

 the " splitting " of genera has been already carried too far 

 in the Cidaridse, and we need now to do a little consolidating 

 and redefining. 



The occurrence of the present species off South-eastern 

 AustraHa is very interesting, for no nearly related species has 

 been taken by the " Challenger," " Siboga," " Valdivia " or 

 " Albatross " in their various collections in the Indian and 

 Pacific Oceans. The " Challenger " species, C. bracteata, 

 recentlyfoundoff Western AustraHa, is as near an ally as any, 

 but the difference in the primary spines is very marked. 

 Indeed, the crowded condition of the granules on the primaries 

 of C. conferta, and the lack or faint indication of longitudinal 

 series in their arrangement, readily distinguish the present 

 species from any cidarid with which I have compared it. 



iocs.— Eastern Slope, Bass Strait, 80-200 fathoms. 

 South of Gabo Island, Victoria, about 200 fathoms. 



